5/19/2022 baseball Edit

No. 1 Tennessee slugs Mississippi State in series opener

Ben McKee • VolReport

Staff Writer

STARKVILLE — Join hundreds of other Tennessee fans in our game thread where you can follow along for live play-by-play updates and commentary as No. 1 Tennessee (46-7, 23-5 SEC) faces Mississippi State (26-27, 9-18 OVC) in the opener of the final weekend of the regular season.

First pitch: 7:02 p.m. ET

Watch: SEC Network

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Starting Lineup

Four takeaways

Here’s four quick takeaways from Tennessee’s historic 27-2 win over Mississippi State in the series opener on Thursday night:

Rounding 1st — Offense Explodes

Tennessee’s hit seven home runs for 27 runs on a season-high 25 hits to open the series in Starkville with authority. The Vols' power display tied a season-high in homers.

Two different Vols hit two home runs in the win. Luc Lipcius hit a solo home run in the first inning before clubbing a two-run homer in the top of the seventh, while Jorel Ortega slugged a pair of three-run home runs, respectively.

Lipcius got the party going in the first inning when he kick-started back-to-back-to-back home runs with Jordan Back and Drew Gilbert.

Freshman Blake Burke hit a monster three-run home run in the third inning to break the game open and give the Vols a 5-0 lead.

Eight of Tennessee’s nine starters collected a hit in the game while seven had multiple hits and three tallied four or more hits.

Rounding 2nd — Historic Win

It was a historic night at Dudy Noble Field as a result of Tennessee’s offensive outburst.

The Vols’ 25-run win is the highest margin of victory in an SEC game in program history, while it’s the worst loss during SEC play in the history of Mississippi State’s baseball program.

Thursday night marked the most runs the Bulldogs have given up in a game since 1943, while the 27 runs were the second-most Tennessee has ever scored in a conference game. It’s the most in an SEC game under Tony Vitello.

Rounding 3rd — Dollander shines

Chase Dollander was dealing on the mound while Tennessee’s bats were red-hot at the plate.

Making his second consecutive Thursday night start since returning from injury, Dollander didn’t allow a hit through six innings on 67 pitches. If not for a seven-run top of the seventh from the Vols’ offense that sat Dollander on the bench for a long time, he would have been in pursuit of a no-hitter.

Dollander struck out six and walked just one batter. He threw 48 strikes on his way to not giving up any runs.

Headed for Home — Double-digit homers

Eight Vols have now hit 10 home runs on the season following Blake Burke’s home run on Thursday night. Luc Lipcius, Jordan Beck, Cortland Lawson, Trey Lipscomb, Evan Russell and Christian Moore have also hit at least 10 homers this season.

There’s a possibility that two others could join. Both Drew Gilbert and Jared Dickey are sitting on seven home runs with plenty of baseball remaining in the season.

Starting Pitchers

Tennessee's starting pitcher: Sophomore RHP Chase Dollander (7-0, 2.54 ERA) made his 11th start of the season and his 13th appearance.

Dollander's season stats entering the game: 56.2 IP, 35 H, 17 R, 16 ER, 8 BB, 84 K, .172 opponent batting average

Mississippi State's starting pitcher: Junior RHP Brandon Smith (3-4, 4.99 ERA) made his eighth start and 18th appearance of the season.

Smith's season stats entering the game: 61.1 IP, 65 H, 37 R, 34 ER, 17 BB, 57 K, .270 opponent batting average

Scoring Plays

T-1st: Tennessee 3 (+3), Mississippi State 0

Tennessee wasted little time jumping on Mississippi State, hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs courtesy of Luc Lipcius, Jordan Beck and Jorel Ortega.

It was Lipcius' 15th home run of the season, Beck's 14th homer and Gilbert's seventh.

T-3rd: Tennessee 8 (+5), Mississippi State 0

The Vols scored five runs on six hits in the top of the third inning to take a commanding 8-0 lead.

After a Drew Gilbert sac fly and a Jorel Ortega RBI double, Blake Burke smoked a three-run homer.

T-5th: Tennessee 11 (+3), Mississippi State 0

Tennessee scored three runs in the fifth inning courtesy of an Evan Russell RBI double and a two-run single with the bases loaded from Seth Stephenson.

T-6th: Tennessee 14 (+3), Mississippi State 0

The Vols scored three more for the second straight inning in the sixth when Jorel Ortega hit a three-run home run, his 13th of the season.

T-7th: Tennessee 21 (+7), Mississippi State 0

Luc Lipcius hit a two-run home run to spark a seven-run seventh inning. Drew Gilbert would score on a wild pitch later in the inning before Jorel Ortega hit an RBI single through the left side.

Evan Russell hit a two-run double and Christian Scott hit an RBI single to round out the scoring for the Vols in the seventh.

B-7th: Tennessee 21, Mississippi State 1 (+1)

Mississippi State hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to breakup Tennessee's pursuit of a shutout.

T-8th: Tennessee 23 (+2), Mississippi State 1

Jorel Ortega hit his second home run of the game and 14th of the season in the eighth when he hit a two-run homer.

B-8th: Tennessee 23, Mississippi State 2 (+1)

Mississippi State's Tanner Leggett hit a solo home run for the Bulldogs' second run of the game.

T-9th: Tennessee 27 (+4), Mississippi State 2

Tennessee scored four runs in the ninth inning when Logan Steenstra hit a bases-clearing double and Jorel Ortega drove in yet another run on an RBI double.

Final Box Score